Dialect continuum
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| - | '''Sprachraum''' is a [[linguistics|linguistic]] term used to designate a geographical region/district where a [[language]], [[dialect]], [[language family|group or family of languages]] is spoken. The [[German language|German]] word ''Sprachraum'' ({{IPA-de|ˈʃpʁaːxʁaʊm|IPA}}; plural ''Sprachräume'') literally means "language area". | + | A '''dialect continuum''', or '''dialect area''', was defined by [[Leonard Bloomfield]] as a range of [[dialects]] spoken across some geographical area that differ only slightly between neighboring areas, but as one travels in any direction, these differences accumulate such that speakers from opposite ends of the continuum are no longer [[mutual intelligibility|mutually intelligible]]. The lines we can draw between areas that differ with respect to any feature of language are called [[isogloss]]es. |
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| - | Most Sprachräume do not follow national [[border]]s. For example, half of [[South America]] is part of the Spanish Sprachraum, while a single, small country like [[Switzerland]] is at the intersection of four such language spheres. A Sprachraum can also be separated by oceans. The English Sprachraum spans the globe, from the [[United Kingdom]], [[United States]], [[Canada]], [[Australia]], and [[New Zealand]] to the many former British colonies where English has official language status alongside local languages, such as [[Ireland]], [[India]] and [[South Africa]]. The French Sprachraum, which also spans several [[continent]]s, is known as ''[[La Francophonie]]''. The Francophonie is also the name of an international organisation composed of countries with French as an official language. The Portuguese Sprachraum for example, includes countries that don't border each other. The four major Western Sprachräume are those of English, French, Portuguese and Spanish. | + | |
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| - | By extension, a Sprachraum can also include a group of related languages. Thus the [[Scandinavian languages|Scandinavian]] Sprachraum includes [[Norway]], [[Sweden]], [[Denmark]], [[Iceland]], and the [[Faroe Islands]], while the Finnic Sprachraum is [[Finland]], [[Estonia]] and adjacent areas of [[Scandinavia]] and [[Russia]]. | + | |
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| - | Even within a single Sprachraum, there can be different, but closely related, languages, otherwise known as [[dialect continuum|dialect continua]]. A classic example is the Chinese Languages, which can be mutually unintelligible in spoken form, but belong to the same language family and have a unified non-phonetic writing system. [[varieties of Arabic|Arabic]] has a similar situation, but its writing system is phonetic (an [[abjad]]) and there is a neutral standard spoken language ([[Literary Arabic|Modern Standard Arabic]]). | + | |
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| - | ==Examples== | + | |
| - | *[[Anglosphere]] (the [[English-speaking world]]) | + | |
| - | *[[Catalan Countries]] (the Catalan-speaking world) | + | |
| - | *[[German-speaking Europe]] | + | |
| - | *[[Germanic Europe cluster]] ("continental Germanic") | + | |
| - | *[[Francophonie]] (the [[Francophone]] world) | + | |
| - | *[[Geographic distribution of Portuguese|Lusofonia]] (the [[Lusophone]] world) | + | |
| - | *[[Sinosphere]] (the [[Chinese culture|Chinese]] cultural sphere which, though originally a continental empire, now mostly coincides with the use of the [[Chinese language]]) | + | |
| - | *[[Arab World]] | + | |
| - | *[[Dutch Language Union]] | + | |
| - | *[[Commonwealth of Independent States]] (more or less coterminous with the realm of the [[Russian language]]) | + | |
| - | *[[Hispanophone]] world (where [[Spanish language|Spanish]] is spoken) | + | |
| - | *[[Austronesia]] | + | |
| - | *[[Latin Europe]] | + | |
| - | *[[Hindi belt]] | + | |
| - | *[[Slavisphere]] | + | |
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| - | ==See also== | + | |
| - | *[[Dialect continuum]] | + | |
| - | *[[Sprachbund]] | + | |
| - | *[[Lingua franca]] | + | |
| - | *[[World language]] | + | |
| - | *[[Pluricentric language]] | + | |
| - | *[[Macrolanguage]] | + | |
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A dialect continuum, or dialect area, was defined by Leonard Bloomfield as a range of dialects spoken across some geographical area that differ only slightly between neighboring areas, but as one travels in any direction, these differences accumulate such that speakers from opposite ends of the continuum are no longer mutually intelligible. The lines we can draw between areas that differ with respect to any feature of language are called isoglosses.
Unless indicated otherwise, the text in this article is either based on Wikipedia article "Dialect continuum" or another language Wikipedia page thereof used under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License; or on research by Jahsonic and friends. See Art and Popular Culture's copyright notice.
